Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Park Rock Kibosh

Susan Suffecool, operations manager of Balboa Park's Starlight Bowl, works for the San Diego Civic Light Opera Association. For 61 years, the outdoor amphitheater has been used primarily for musical plays. Suffecool says even though the facility is owned by the city, her group must pay for facility upkeep.

"It's really hard to get grants.... Everyone goes to the north end of Balboa Park. People don't come to the south end. People don't know the Starlight Bowl exists. It's very sad, but when you have a place that holds 3574 people, this place needs to be in use."

To help pay for maintenance and improvements, Suffecool says Starlight Bowl started producing its own shows and allowed outside promoters in to do live shows.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"They had, like, 12 Sunday rock shows this year," says Jason Lee, lead singer of Loss of Control. "We played at 3 of them." Lee says Van Halen tribute band OU812 and local bands such as Hydroplane and Deverb have also performed.

"I would say each show would draw a couple hundred people," says Lee. "The Starlight provided the venue, the PA, and the staff. All we had to do was show up with our band gear and play."

Suffecool says she was disappointed that some of the self-produced Starlight rock shows only brought "...10 or 20 people."

Ads recently distributed by promoter Willie Tuckerson announced a two-day, 24-band "Southern California Rock Fest" on June 30 and July 1, but all plans for future Starlight rock shows have been scuttled.

"I got some very disturbing news from my doctor," says Suffecool. "I don't have the stamina. For health reasons, I had to cancel those events." She says she also canceled a show headlined and promoted by local band Bedpost Buzzard. However, two-week-long productions of Ragtime, Aida, and Oklahoma! are scheduled for this summer.

It's been five years since Ganeshfest drew 2000 fans to the 72-year-old city-owned venue. Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey, Fenix TX, and seven other local bands shared the bill.

"It was not entirely a financially successful endeavor," says someone connected with the concert. "There's numerous costs involved in producing shows at this particular venue."

The Starlight Bowl is a "union facility," which means union labor must be used to handle production needs; that factor, plus an abundant amount of necessary security personnel, increases the cost of producing an event at the Starlight.

Before 2002's Ganeshfest, it had been eight years since the Starlight Bowl hosted major-name rock headliners. Anthrax, the Allman Brothers, the Beastie Boys, and Jewel played the Starlight in the '90s. Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and the Doobie Brothers played there in the '80s.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon

Susan Suffecool, operations manager of Balboa Park's Starlight Bowl, works for the San Diego Civic Light Opera Association. For 61 years, the outdoor amphitheater has been used primarily for musical plays. Suffecool says even though the facility is owned by the city, her group must pay for facility upkeep.

"It's really hard to get grants.... Everyone goes to the north end of Balboa Park. People don't come to the south end. People don't know the Starlight Bowl exists. It's very sad, but when you have a place that holds 3574 people, this place needs to be in use."

To help pay for maintenance and improvements, Suffecool says Starlight Bowl started producing its own shows and allowed outside promoters in to do live shows.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"They had, like, 12 Sunday rock shows this year," says Jason Lee, lead singer of Loss of Control. "We played at 3 of them." Lee says Van Halen tribute band OU812 and local bands such as Hydroplane and Deverb have also performed.

"I would say each show would draw a couple hundred people," says Lee. "The Starlight provided the venue, the PA, and the staff. All we had to do was show up with our band gear and play."

Suffecool says she was disappointed that some of the self-produced Starlight rock shows only brought "...10 or 20 people."

Ads recently distributed by promoter Willie Tuckerson announced a two-day, 24-band "Southern California Rock Fest" on June 30 and July 1, but all plans for future Starlight rock shows have been scuttled.

"I got some very disturbing news from my doctor," says Suffecool. "I don't have the stamina. For health reasons, I had to cancel those events." She says she also canceled a show headlined and promoted by local band Bedpost Buzzard. However, two-week-long productions of Ragtime, Aida, and Oklahoma! are scheduled for this summer.

It's been five years since Ganeshfest drew 2000 fans to the 72-year-old city-owned venue. Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey, Fenix TX, and seven other local bands shared the bill.

"It was not entirely a financially successful endeavor," says someone connected with the concert. "There's numerous costs involved in producing shows at this particular venue."

The Starlight Bowl is a "union facility," which means union labor must be used to handle production needs; that factor, plus an abundant amount of necessary security personnel, increases the cost of producing an event at the Starlight.

Before 2002's Ganeshfest, it had been eight years since the Starlight Bowl hosted major-name rock headliners. Anthrax, the Allman Brothers, the Beastie Boys, and Jewel played the Starlight in the '90s. Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and the Doobie Brothers played there in the '80s.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon
Next Article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader